Staff MemberPremium Member

Now that you finally have your shiny new Nexus 7 the first thing you may want to do is Root it! That is normally the first thing I do with all of my devices. In this instance you will want to unlock the bootloader first then you can proceed to rooting your device. Why root a stock android device you ask? There are all kinds of awesome things you can do with a rooted device. You can backup your entire system with apps like Titanium Backup, you can install all kinds of mods with apps like Xposed Framework, and the list goes on and on. The method for rooting is pretty simple. Follow the quick guide below!

Step 1: unlock the bootloader
Step 2: Download the TWRP image to your PC (place in same folder you have your fastboot and adb files), Download the SuperSU.zip and place on the Nexus 7's internal memory
Step 3: Boot Nexus 7 into bootloader (from powered off hold power+volumeup+volumedown)
Step 4: Open command line from the folder where you have the TWRP image (easiest way is to navigate to that folder, shift+rightclick, open command line here)
Step 5: type command "fastboot flash recovery filename.img"
Step 6: reboot into recovery by entering the command "adb reboot recovery"Step 7: Flash the SuperSu
Step 8: Profit!

Hi, thanks for your great tutorial in teaching me how to unlock the bootloader for the new nexus 7 2013. Now, I am trying to root it by following the guide above. I am an noob when coming to rooting. I just want to have super user and the ability to use rooted tweak app from google store. I don't want to mod the rom or the android OS. So if I did all the above my new Nexus 7 is successfully rooted? Also, do I need to perform some kind of Nandroid back or other backup in case something goes wrong before I try rooting... (from what I reads).... or do I do that in the next step?

Let me clarify that I just want to unlock my bootlader and have super user so I can install and use rooted tweak apps from the google store. Please fill me in.. thank you!

Someone told me I should use TWRB and do a system image backup before I try flashing SuperSu in the worst case scenario. Can you give me an guide on how do I boot into TWRB backup so I can do the backup before flashing the SuperSu? I'm new at this and want to be as cautious as possible from bricking the device. thanks!

Someone told me I should use TWRB and do a system image backup before I try flashing SuperSu in the worst case scenario. Can you give me an guide on how do I boot into TWRB backup so I can do the backup before flashing the SuperSu? I'm new at this and want to be as cautious as possible from bricking the device. thanks!

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TWRP (Team Win Recovery Project) is the recovery image you just flashed, if you followed the directions in the steps above. This video (www.youtube.com/watch?v=laBKgRCpMeI) will show you how to make a backup. Although it's using a phone to go through the process, the steps are the same when using a Nexus 7.